Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille says the city will embark on a programme to generate its own energy from renewable sources by 2020.

De Lille adds that the aim is to generate about 20 per cent of the city's total electricity supply from renewable sources within that period.

She announced the new plan, called the Organizational Development and Transformation Plan, which aims to improve service delivery and modernise the government, on Monday.

The plan also aims to reverse the legacy of apartheid spatial planning and make the city more customer-centric.

Saying that Cape Town aimed to be energy-secure, she said: Before, the City was only seized with the task of distributing electricity. Now, we've established a department that will also generate electricity because we believe we must make Cape Town energy secure.

"We must afford the people in the city the opportunity to decide whether they want to use renewable energy or fossil fuel and at what price they can afford to do it.